More than 60 full-time equivalent roles identified in government communications and marketing posts

Tynwald written answer discloses breakdown of staff working in marketing, communications, promotional and news-related roles across government departments and public bodies

More than 62 full-time equivalent roles linked to marketing, communications, media, promotional and engagement work have been identified across government departments, boards and offices, according to figures in a Tynwald written answer.

The figures were provided by Chief Minister Alfred Cannan in response to a written question from Onchan MHK Julie Edge, who asked for a breakdown of staff by job role and full-time equivalent across government and arm’s length bodies.

The total falls to 58.58 full-time equivalent posts when positions created specifically to provide maternity cover are excluded.

How the figures are compiled

The data has been drawn from the Office of Human Resources system (PiP). However, Mr Cannan notes that PiP does not categorise roles by “job family or area of responsibility”.

Instead, the figures were extracted based on whether job titles contained specific keywords, including marketing, communication, media, PR, promotion, news, advertising, public relations, graphic designer, content creator or engagement.

As a result, the figures reflect job titles rather than an assessment of how much time individual roles spend on communications or promotional activity.

The response explicitly warns that this approach may include some posts whose responsibilities are not primarily media or marketing-related, while excluding other whose duties may involve communications but whose job titles do not contain the relevant keywords.

Where the roles sit

The largest concentration of posts appears within the Cabinet Office and the Department for Enterprise, where a range of communications, marketing, digital and content-focused roles are listed.

Within the Cabinet Office, roles include communications officers and executives, a head of government communication, internal communications management, marketing and social marketing posts, as well as content creation and graphic design.

The Department for Enterprise list includes marketing executives and managers across its agencies in addition to motorsport and TT-related roles.

Smaller numbers of roles are identified across other departments, including education, sport and culture; environment, food and agriculture; infrastructure; health and social care; home affairs; and treasury.

Manx Care is shown to have several communications and engagement-related posts, alongside an education and engagement role within the ambulance service.

A separate table also identifies communications and engagement roles within bodies such as the Information Commissioner’s Office, Manx National Heritage, the Clerk of Tynwald’s Office and the Public Sector Pensions Authority.

Arm’s length bodies and exclusions

To provide what the chief minister describes as a more “comprehensive answer”, several arm’s length bodies were contacted directly, including the Financial Services Authority, Manx Utilities Authority, Post Office and Steam Packet Company.

Those organisations reported a small number of communications and marketing roles. However, the response states that these FTE figures are not included in the headline total of 62.58.

The figures exclude contractors, agency staff, secondees paid outside the government payroll system and temporary workers.

The chief minister says an exercise to validate the number of positions in these areas is planned in the coming months – likely as part of his review of public sector headcount.